2 Year Old Sleep Change

I find with my son (age 2.5) that he actually does better when I put him down earlier, instead of later. Also, you said you son is hit-or-miss with naps - when my son doesn't take a nap, I put him down about an hour earlier than normal to make up for the missed nap - and he generally sleeps later.

Has you son gotten all of his molars? He may be having some tooth pain and that could be causing the early waking. My son woke up during the middle of the night quite a bit when he was getting his molars.

Hang in there - it is usually a phase and should pass. But in the meantime, try putting him to bed 15-30 minutes earlier and even earlier than that if he doesn't nap - and see how he does.

J.
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Hi! My 13 month daughter started doing the exact same thing! All of the sudden, waking at 6am... not fun. I mean, 6am isn't terrible... it could be worse, but I liked her old schedule much better. If I find any solution, I'll be sure to let you know. How does your other son sleep?

We saw the same pattern develop when our kids where that young, and it became something we could expect seasonally. In fact, my children (8 and 5) just a couple of weeks ago were sleeping until I woke them on school days and till 8:30 on weekends. But, even I've noticed it's a little lighter out now earlier than it used to be since we're nearing spring. In the last weeks my daughter has been waking up before her alarm on school days and they're up in the 7 o'clock hour now. Even I have been waking up a little earlier on weekends too! We've moved to a new house and are not yet equipped, but in our last house to combat this, we installed blackout liners and curtains in our kids' rooms. That did the trick. Good luck. It could also be that your 2 year old is requiring slightly less sleep than he used to. Consider shortening his nap if he takes one, and make sure to get him lots of exercise during the day.

My oldest son who is now a teenager use to do that but sometimes would even wake up as early as 5am! He still keeps that same schedule...strange for a teenager (I know). But back when he was a toddler we really struggled with it because it was a little too early for anyone else to get up. My husband was really gracious about it and did most of the work with him in the morning because he was getting up for work at about that time. He would get him breakfast, put on Barney and set a few toys out for him to play with in a safe area of the house. I would then roll out of bed when my husband left for work, which really wasn't that much later anyhow. We rolled with those early mornings until he was able to read numbers...we then put a digital clock by his bed and told him he had to stay in bed until the first number was a 7. He actually did that! He would just lay there looking at the ceiling I think. But he was really great about that. Some people have internal clocks and are early risers and we found that our oldest is just that. He goes to bed pretty early and wakes up really early. It is a great habit for him anyhow because he now gets on the bus very early in the morning and I know he will never oversleep! Changing their internal clocks can be difficult but if you can get creative on how to keep him busy for a few extra minutes in the morning I think it will end up working out in the long run.

Unfortunately they wake when they wake! There really isn't too much you can do as I am a Mom of a waking 6am boy too. Sometimes I get lucky and he sleeps till 7am but it is rare. My advice: go to bed earlier since you know he will be waking early :0) I know it is frustrating but you will be less grumpy. We can't change their little sleeping habits but it will all work itself out.
Christina

Does your 2 year old take naps? If so, try eliminating or limiting his nap time during the day. I know some kids are absolutely cranky without a nap so try shortening the nap if this is the case. If you have a babysitter/daycare, tell them to limit his naptime. Hope it works
M..

Hey there, I am also a mother of 2 as well. I have a 2 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. I was having the same situation with my 2 yr old. She was like an alarm clock every morning. 6:30 am. So, I would bring her into bed and hope that she would lay there till at least 7. I finally put an end to it. She woke up at 6:30 am one morning a while back and I just went in, told her to lay down and go back to sleep. I won't lie, she screamed but she ended up going back to sleep and she sleeps till 7:30 - 8am. You just have to break that cycle. Let me know how you make out. We all need our sleep!
A. Prudish
www.GREENSTHEWAYTOBE.COM